To open 2016, the dogs and I drove down to White Sands National Monument in southern New Mexico. With its miles and miles of uninterrupted white gypsum sand dunes, it is one of the great places of the world. There is no other place like it. White Sands is right up there with the Grand Canyon as a place that will not disappoint you.
Gypsum sand is different than normal beach sand. Gypsum sand is soft and compacts well, so it is great for walking. It also doesn’t absorb heat like regular sand. If you have walked barefoot across a sandy beach in the summer, you know that it is an ouch, ouch, ouch moment. If you were to walk across White Sands on a day just as hot, the gypsum sand will be cool to your feet.
Because the gypsum sand does not hold heat, the temperature drops like a rock as soon as the sun goes down. One time, on a late October day, my daughter Jennifer and I camped out at White Sands on a full moon night. When we reached the National Monument at 4:00PM the outside temperature was 82 degrees. The next morning, when we woke up, there was a layer of ice in our water bottles.
If you have dogs, bring them to White Sands. It is one of the few National Parks or Monuments that welcomes them. Just make sure you keep them on a leash and pick up after them.
When my dog Lucky first saw White Sands, he started bouncing against the car window as we drove into the Monument. He thought he was seeing snow. When he jumped out of the car and found out that it wasn’t snow, he couldn’t believe it. He kept running his snout through the sand again and again just to make sure. He soon figured out that he could romp and dig in the white sand just as well as he could in snow and soon became very happy just to be there.
White Sands is also a great place to wander. There are marked trails, but you can easily let what you see guide you on where to go and literally wander in any direction. Even though most of what you see will be white sand, there will be many little details for you to check out.
Even though there are 300 days a year of sunshine in New Mexico, we managed to visit White Sands on a cloudy day. As a result my photographs did not turn out as well I would have liked. You’ll have to trust me that White Sands is wonderful. There are plenty of spectacular “post card” views on the Internet for you to check out to see what I mean.
As you can see, White Sands is great for walking.
Because the dunes are always moving, there are areas where the original surface is exposed. These small basins will eventually be filled with sand.
If you check out where there are no footsteps, you’ll amazing patterns made by the wind.
As we walked along, we saw this shrub and the distance and decided to check it out.
We didn’t realize that we would have to cross three ridges of dunes to get there.
And when we got there, we found these two shrubs in the process of being left behind as the dune moved on. Maybe the shrubs can hold out long enough for the next dune arrive.
As you walk along you’ll find the lee slope to be steeper than the windward slope.
The lee slopes are fantastic for running up and down.
It’s hard to believe that this is not drifting snow. Eventually the sand will cover this entire area.
If you walk far enough, you can reach the western edge of the dunes. If you look closely, you can see one of the test facilities at White Sands Missile Range.
What’s truly amazing is that all of this white sand originated from gypsum crystals (selenite) growing in a Pleistocene lake that is now dried up. If you are looking for another wandering adventure, you can check out some of playas (dried lake beds) southeast of Albuquerque. If the playa has a little bit of water in it, you can literally see selenite crystals sprouting from the gypsum-saturated water like weeds in fertile soil.
This is one of the many playas southeast of Albuquerque. If you look closely you can see selenite crystals growing from the surface. Some of the crystals were almost a foot long.
There is so much to see in this world that is wonderful, and if your travels take you to southern New Mexico, don’t miss White Sands.
January 18, 2016 at 5:44 pm
Remember it looked like the moon….. That’s how you got me to go. Love you,
Jennifer
January 9, 2016 at 6:06 pm
Dave, I like the cloudy day effect. there isn’t that hard line that separates the bright blue and blindingly white sand. I also like your pictures of the ripples.
January 6, 2016 at 8:38 pm
wow what a cool place to go. My Doxie would love it and I’d love to have some of that “cool” white stuff in my yard. My dogs can’t go out in the rocks and poop because the rocks are so hot it hurts their feet, hense, they poop on the patio. What a fun trip that would be.
January 6, 2016 at 4:33 pm
Thank you. White Sands is now on my list of places to go.